AN:

"Hello" - normal talking

'Hello' - thoughts

Chapter 26 - Overprotective

"Gildarts! FIGHT ME!" Natsu screamed and launched himself at the Crash Magic user with a flaming fist.

*whack*

The next moment, he was embedded into the floor via a chop on the head. Picking himself up, the boy grinned widely.

"You're really super-strong, Gildarts! But just you wait, I'll surpass you in no time!"

Gildarts laughed heartily.

"I'll be waiting for it, Natsu. But I dare say that won't happen anytime soon. Haha!"

Despite what the older mage said, Natsu was pumped up. With fire coating both of his fists now, his slanty eyes focused on the person sitting across Gildarts, at the same table. Clearly, they were going to be his next target.

"Don't even try it," Naruto said and made a shooing motion with his hand. "Go bother your girlfriend Gray or something. Let adults talk."

Gildarts was having a hard time controlling his laughter. He knew Natsu well enough to understand that Naruto's words will both literally and figuratively set him on fire.

"Gray isn't my girlfriend, asshole!" Natsu yelled incensed and the flames around his hands reacted to his emotions. "I'm going to kick your ass!"

With a battle cry, he lunged at Naruto, swinging his fists widely. In exchange, the blonde raised just his hand to meet his attack.

*boom*

A small shockwave came from the collision and Natsu was hurled back as though he was hit by a truck, his body smashing through all the chairs and tables in his way until he hit the opposite wall. Now, with both of his hands clutching at his forehead, Natsu was rolling on the ground and squealing in pain like a dying pig.

"Why did you have to hit me so hard! You nearly cracked my head, bastard!" Natsu yelled and pointed an accusatory finger at him, all the while still clutching at his forehead with his other hand.

Naruto grinned mischievously.

"What are you saying, Natsu?"

His right arm still extended from when he met Natus' attack, he raised it a bit higher in the air and said:

"I only used one finger. Just a flick on the forehead."

It was exactly how Tsunade had nearly knocked him out when they had first met. Using only one finger, she disarmed him of his kunai, split open the ground and sent him back flying several dozens of feet with a flick on his forehead.

Natsu was left stunned. In fact, most of the members on the sidelines were speechless. Eventually, he turned around left the guild in silence. He did not even glare at Naruto or Gildarts on his way out. Being knocked back by a simple flick on the forehead left him in a state of shock.

"Oi, oi, Naruto, I think you went a bit too far. You completely broke his spirit." Gildarts said.

"That's the idea. He needs to learn that there's always another sky above the sky. Especially when I have to deal with him randomly ambushing me ten times a day. He's gotta tone that shit down a little."

It was becoming tiring to deal with the Dragon Slayer's "challenges" so many times every day. The frequency of his attacks only increased after learning that Naruto was in the same league as Gildarts when it came to strength.

Gildarts chuckled. He too got fed up sometimes with Natsu's attempts at attacking him but he understood that it was in his nature to continuously challenge those stronger than him. Furthermore, he was often away on various long-term jobs so the time he spent at the guild was little. His interactions with Natsu were not often enough to become annoying. If anything, he found the dragonslayer amusing and rather appreciated that tenacious spirit of his.

"Oh well. In the end, it's Natsu we're talking about. He'll probably be back at it by tomorrow. He's not one to stay put for too long. Haha!"

Naruto sighed in exasperation.

"Why are you sighing like that? Come, have another drink with me!" Gildarts grinned and poured Naruto another pint of ale. He poured himself one too and the two clinked their pints before downing them in one gulp. This time, they sighed in content and grinned.

"Not bad, kid. It this is your fourth or fifth pint already?"

"Who counts them. Not like they have any effect." Naruto said but, going by the silly grin on his face, it looked like the alcohol he had drunk was not as ineffective as he claimed.

"Hoho, is that a challenge I hear?" Gildarts provoked him.

"Bring it on, old man! Haha!"

The two men refilled their pints again and laughed loudly as they downed another round of ale. Although Gildarts was of a similar age to Macao and Wakaba - much older than Naruto - for some reason, they clicked well together. For Naruto, it was certainly a refreshing experience. He had never had that kind of friends before. The kind of friends with whom he could just hang out and have a drink together. Just chilling and having a good time. True, in his present life, he had gotten Mirajane, but she was a girl. Some things could only be enjoyed in the company of male friends.

On a table towards the other end of the guildhall, Mirajane was chatting with other girls from the guild.

"Ne, Mira-san, why can't I see your baby bump?" Lucy asked out of the blue.

"Lucy! That's not appropriate!" Levy admonished before explaining: "For first-timers, the baby bump won't become visible earlier than 3 months into the pregnancy. It's still a little too soon for Mirajane-san!"

Lucy made a sound of surprise and Mirajane smiled at the blonde girl. Lucy's body certainly looked mature but her behaviour proved she was still a teen girl.

"Heeh... As expected, Levy-chan, you're very informed." Lucy said.

Levy flushed at those words because they could be understood in more than one way.

"T-That's common knowledge! N-Not like I studied about this in particular or anything!" she stammered and sneaked a glance a young man with long and spiky black hair that was moping alone in a corner. It was Gajeel.

Mirajane followed her line of sight and her eyebrows rose in interest. She couldn't help herself from teasing a little the younger girl.

"Uu, Levy-chan, that's surprising. But now that I think about it, it makes sense."

Caught in the act of ogling at Gajeel, Levy didn't even try to find an excuse anymore. She buried her face in her palms and let her head fall against the table. Deciding to not further embarrass the poor girl, Mirajane switched her target to Lucy.

"What about Natsu, Lucy?"

The blonde girl choked on her spit.

"W-What about him?" she asked, her voice higher pitched than usual.

Mirajane giggled.

"I think the two of you would look cute together."

At those words, Lucy's mind involuntarily went back to how Natsu attacked Gildarts and Naruto and was beaten back for the 5th time that day alone. Her bashfulness vanished and she said in a deadpan voice.

"Nope, nope. Not a chance."

The girls continued to gossip for a while and giggle as they spoke about various would-be couples. Naturally, Gray and Juvia, Alzack and Bisca and even Happy and Carla - none of them escaped from being gossiped about. It had been a very long time since so many of the Fairy Tail members had been gathered together in the guildhall. Now, they were taking full advantage of it.

"Still, I've never thought that Naruto-san and Gildarts would become such good friends," Levy said and looked over the two men who were still drinking and laughing boisterously.

Mirajane smiled in content. She was happy Naruto was finally opening up to other people besides her too. For so many years, he had closed off his heart to everyone except for her and she knew that it was not healthy. She had told him so in the past - that he needed more people in his life - but he always shrugged her worries off saying she was the only one he needed. Seeing him starting to make friends with others as well made her feel fulfilled.

"Mhm, ever since Gildarts came back a few days ago, they've been hanging out all the time. Aren't you bothered in the least by it?" Lucy asked in genuine curiosity.

Mirajane shook her head.

"Of course not. It's good for him to hang out with others too. Naruto's always been a loner. Even after more than a month from joining the guild, he hasn't gotten that close to anyone else in the guild. I'm happy to see him opening up to other people too..."

"...but don't think you can start getting chummy with him or anything like that," Mirajane said and gave Levy and Lucy the evil eye towards the end.

The two girls shuddered but Mirajane stuck out her tongue and laughed.

"Tehe. Just kidding!"

Levy and Lucy looked at each other.

'She's most definitely not kidding at all!' - was what they thought at the same time.

At that moment, the large doors of the guildhall were opened and Erza rushed in, her clothes and long hair all soaking wet. Quickly after she entered, she used her Requip magic to change her wet clothes into another outfit. Then, she came to Mirajane, Lucy and Levy's table and sat down with a thud.

"I know it's November, but what in the world is with all this rain?!" she grumbled in iritation. Her clothes may have been changed but her hair was still dripping wet.

The reason why so many members of Fairy Tail were gathered together that day was exactly the terrible weather outside. Nobody had any motivation to go on a job on that kind of weather. Although it was November and the weather was expected to worsen, what was happening currently was out of ordinary. It started to rain the previous day but it hasn't stopped until now. Furthermore, it was not just a drizzle. It rained heavily from the start and it seemed to only get worse with every passing hour. The wind also started to pick up. It looked as though a hurricane was coming.

The sky was lit up by lightning and a thunder was heard.

"I think it's enough for today. Can't get wasted now, I still gotta take Mira home," he said when Gildarts tried to pour him some more alcohol.

"C'mon, Naruto," Gildarts insisted and poured him another pint despite his refusal. "She's an S-class mage. You don't need to babysit her. You can let loose for once and relax. Come, bottoms up!" he said and pushed the pint closer to Naruto.

"She's pregnant. She's not allowed to use her Take Over magic at all. There's no way I can leave her unprotected."

Gildarts groaned in annoyance.

"Ok, ok, then just go already, Mr Family Man."

"You're just envious I'm gonna have a cute baby girl to spoil soon. Come to think of it, you're not getting any younger. Don't you think you should-" Naruto started to say but he was forced to duck as a pint zoomed above his head, almost hitting him.

"I was spot on, wasn't I? Haha!" Naruto laughed after dodging the flying pint.

He sat up from the table and raised his hand as a good-bye.

"I'm leaving, old man. My fiance is waiting for me." he said, emphasising the "fiance" part. He laughed when Gildarts threw another pint at him; the older mage was too drunk to aim properly.

Coming over to the girls' table, he went behind Mirajane's seat and bent over to kiss her on the cheek.

"You ready to go, Mira?"

The girl leaned back and looked up at him cutely, knowing that Naruto would not be able to resist giving her another kiss. He pecked her on the lips chastely - they were in public - and then kissed her on the forehead too.

"We should go," he said again and nudged her up. "the weather is getting worse with every passing hour. I don't want you to catch a cold or something."

She pouted at him and was about to retort that he was being too overprotective but he pinched her nose, making her struggle to escape.

"Pouting ain't gonna work on me this time," Naruto said and she glared at him but complied nonetheless.

She sighed helplessly and turned to look at the other 3 girls at the table.

"As you can see, there's no stopping him once he decided something. Gotta go, girls. See you tomorrow." she said and sat up.

"Bye!"

"Bye, Mira-san!"

"See you tomorrow!"

Naruto helped her put her coat on and then, before exiting the guildhall, he put his hands in a cross-shaped handseal and 8 Shadow Clones appeared, encasing the two of them in a circle. Feeling Mirajane's glare burning a hole in the back of his neck, he looked at her and said defensively:

"What? They're gonna shield you from the wind!"

"Seriously, Naruto?! Dispell them right away before I do it myself!"

Looking as though he was feeling wronged, Naruto made the clones disappear. But then, he opened an umbrella so large that it almost could not fit through the large doors of the guildhall. It was nearly 3 m in diameter - the type of umbrellas that were used on bar terraces.

"Naruto!" Mirajane yelled, her face flushing when she realized that practically every member in the guildhall started to laugh at Naruto's antics.

She rushed outside and broke into a run, too embarrassed to stay a moment longer in the guild.

"Mira-chan, wait!" Naruto yelled and ran after her with the huge umbrella in his arms.

The rest of the people in the guild continued to laugh even a few minutes after they ran away.

"Those two are so cute together!" Levy gushed after Naruto and Mirajane left. "The cutest couple I've ever seen!"

"Mirajane is sooo lucky! Naruto-san takes such good care of her. He's also so attentive and tender!" Lucy said and sighed wistfully when she recalled how many times she witnessed him embracing her and kissing her on the forehead.

"True, I wish the other guys were more like him too!" Levy said and sneaked another glance at Gajeel who was always too busy watching Happy and Carla to notice her advances. Apparently, the Iron Dragonslayer was depressed that he was the only Dragonslayer in the guild without a talking cat.

Erza also nodded to express her agreement. She also thought that Mirajane was blessed to have found someone like Naruto when she compared it to how thorny and confusing was her thing with Jellal.

The three girls found themselves sighing in slight envy at the same time...after which they proceeded to laugh awkwardly when they realized what they were doing.

\\\\\

"You're unbelievable! How could you embarrass me like that!"

Naruto laughed uncomfortably.

"Sorry, sorry. I just want the best for you."

Mirajane palmed her forehead and breathed out loud in exasperation. Ever since she recovered from the wounds she sustained during Raven Tail's attack, Naruto had never left her side even once and he seemed to go to extreme lengths to make sure she was not being harmed in any way. But he was suffocating her. Even though she wanted nothing more than to start ranting at him, she understood where he was coming from, his past and the reason for his fears. So she chose her words carefully before saying:

"I know you want to ensure my and our baby's safety but you're taking it a little too far... just... just be a little more moderate. Please?"

"Okay..." he muttered and Mirajane now felt bad when she saw him looking like a kicked puppy.

She got in the bed next to him and leaned against his shoulder - they were both sitting with their backs resting on the bed's headboard.

"What are you reading there?"

"It's today's newspaper. I've bought it on our way to the guild but then Gildarts came and I didn't have any spare time to check it anymore."

They read the newspaper, laughing or commenting at various articles in it. But then, towards the end, their eyes fell on the title of a particular article, somewhere in the corner of the page before the last page.

Laxus and Ivan Dreyar sentenced to prison.

Naruto and Mirajane were startled. This was the kind of article that would normally appear on the first page of any newspaper. The Dreyar family was very famous in Fiore due to the number of powerful mages it birthed. Makarov was a Wizard Saint and the master of Fairy Tail and Ivan and Laxus were very powerful too. Normally, anything related to them would easily make it on the first page. It appeared as though someone had used their influence to smother the news of Laxus and Ivan being sentenced to prison for their attack on Fairy Tail. But while they could not force the newspaper editors to completely ignore such big news, they did persuade them to post the article somewhere towards the end of the newspaper where many people would most likely not look.

"Hmm, 3 years of prison? Are you kidding me?! Only 3 years?"

"It says they were charged for assault and battery. Since nobody was left with lasting wounds or killed, they couldn't give them too much prison time." Mirajane explained.

Naruto scoffed.

"No wonder there are so many Dark Guilds around. When the penalties are so lenient of course that Dark Mages don't give a crap about the law."

Taking another look at the article, he asked:

"Only assault and battery? What about the amendment forbidding going at war with another guild? What about the attempted murder? Were these things completely ignored?"

"Obviously, someone pulled some strings for them," Mirajane concluded. "With the right connections and enough money, nearly everything is possible. Other mages would've been imprisoned for decades if they had done the same things as them. My guess is that either Master Makarov or Yajima-san put in a word for them. It's only a guess though, we have no proof."

Naruto furrowed his brows and the newspaper crumpled in his hands as he clenched them into fists.

'Only 3 years after everything they've done?! What the fuck! Who's to say they won't try to get revenge after those 3 years?'

A cold glint appeared in his eyes he resolved himself to not show any mercy to their future enemies anymore.

'I won't spare anyone from now on. I won't leave any other loose ends to bite me in the ass later on. Never again.'

Feeling the killing intent that he started to emit, Mirajane put his her hand on top of his clenched fist. That action of hers calmed him down like magic.

"Forget about it. Let's get some sleep," she said and took the newspaper out of his hands and put it on her nightstand.

After they turned off the light, they cuddled together like usual. Ever since the weather became colder, they started to enjoy sleeping in each other's arms much more.

"How about we make a trip to Era tomorrow?" Naruto asked.

She raised her head from his chest and laid it on the pillow so she could look at him while they were speaking.

"What brought this?"

"I need to buy a Magic Tome or a Grimoire. I've searched for it in Magnolia but I couldn't find what I wanted."

"Eh, seriously?" Mirajane asked in surprise.

Magnolia Town had numerous shops selling anything that a mage could possibly need because Fairy Tail had been in it for decades. Wherever mages existed, Magic Shops would pop up too. Magic merchandise was generally expensive and most mages were wealthier than the average commoners. Because of that, it was a very good opportunity for merchants to make big profits. That said, for Naruto to not find what he needed in Magnolia, it was rather unusual.

"Hm, you must be looking for something rare. What is it? In the first place, why are you even looking for a new type of magic? Your Take Over is incredibly powerful already. You even took over a new soul recently."

Naruto brought a hand to her face and put one of her stray locks of hair behind her ear.

"Take Over may be powerful. But it was not enough to keep you safe. I couldn't be by your side when needed me the most. Now, I have to step up my effort even more because you can't use your magic anymore. You can't protect yourself in case of an attack because god knows what would happen to the baby if you cast any your Satan Souls again."

"You're still beating yourself over that?" Mirajane asked. But she didn't try to change his mind. She knew how stubborn Naruto was once he put his mind to something. "What do you have in mind?"

"Spatial Magic. More exactly, Teleportation Magic."

"I don't think you'll find that magic for sale. The Magic Council deems it dangerous so for it to not fall in the wrong hands, it's strictly regulated by them... come to think of it, I don't know any active mages that use Teleportation Magic - that's how rare it is. You'll have to apply for permission to access the Magic Council's Library."

"Well fuck..." he cursed under his breath.

Currently, Naruto's relationship with the Magic Council was not good at all. Better said, they were almost enemies, especially after he blackmailed them into retracting the charges against the Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale.

"How the hell am I going to get their permission?"

But when he heard Mirajane yawning, he said:

"Ah, we'll think of something tomorrow. Good night, little bee."

"G'night, Naru," she mumbled and moved her head back on his chest, nestling her body as close to his as possible.

He smiled at her cat-like behaviour and closed his eyes. Even if he could not get his hands on a tome about Teleportation Magic by using legal means, that would not stop him. He was ready to do anything to ensure that Mirajane was safe. And Teleportation Magic appeared to be the best choice for that. Not only that his speed would become unrivalled, boosting his combat power enormously - his father, the Yondaime Hokage, had single-handedly stopped a massive war thanks to his Hiraishin no Jutsu - but he would be able to teleport at her side at any moment. Even more than that, Teleportation Magic could be used to teleport other persons too, not only himself. He could very well choose to teleport Mirajane at his side instead or even to teleport her to hundreds of miles distance, away from the harm's way.

'I guess I'll have to get in contact with the darker part of the society to get access to the black market. That's shouldn't be too difficult."

During his years of working as the previous Magic Council's proxy, he had had contact with numerous Dark Mages and illegal organisations. While he had not fostered any kind of relationships with that type of people, he knew whom he had to threaten or bribe into getting what he wanted. Violence and money were the best ways for one to obtain what they desired in the underground world. He still had to make a trip to Era or Crocus though; compared them, Magnolia Town was quite small.

AN:

(Not an English native and I have no beta either. Sorry for any mistakes I may have made.)